Ascendant
by storytell18
Summary: What if Slade had been the one to find Starfire instead of Robin? Would it have changed anything. It would have changed everything as Blackfire's arrival begins to complicate matters for Starfire. Pairings inside. Rated T for violence, brief language, suggestive content, and nudity.
1. ET

**Author's Notes**

Okay, before we begin this new story, understand that this is a completely different story than the ones I've written before. Scratch that, it's slightly similar to some of my previous efforts but for the most part nothing like I've written before.

This story is another alternate scenario fiction (_Second Chance_). It's about what happens when Slade is the one who first encounters Starfire, not Robin. This changes everything.

As such, the Teen Titans won't exist for the story as Starfire so happened to be the force that was responsible for their creation. As for the individual Titans, Starfire and Robin will be main characters in this story. Raven will be a supporting character (I couldn't resist adding her to the story), but her role will be more prominent later on. Beast Boy and Cyborg don't have roles in this story, as I couldn't find a place for them. They could appear if I find a place for them, but don't count on that.

As well, Slade and Blackfire will be major characters as well in this story, with Slade being a protagonist and Blackfire being an antagonist. This depiction of Slade is certainly different than the cold-hearted mastermind we all love to hate, more akin to _Betrayed, Cast Off, Angry_.

There will be several love triangles throughout the story – Starfire-Robin-Slade, Robin-Blackfire-Starfire, and Slade-Raven-Starfire being the principal ones. I haven't seen too many Star/Slade stories on this site, and of those, I haven't found one that really is similar to this story, so I can say with some confidence that this story is the first of its kind (a Starfire-focused alternate scenario with Slade being on the good side).

In addition, I had also been toying with the idea of doing a songfic for some time and I decided ultimately to apply that element to this story because I feel it would fit with the story's nature. Expect songs from artists such as Katy Perry, Adele, Skillet, Evanescence, and John Legend.

I had originally intended to post this chapter alongside chapter two, but I doubt I will be able to get the second chapter finished by my deadline to post, so I'm just going to post this chapter and see how you like it.

"indicates speech"

_indicates thought_

_"indicates speech on communication device"_

**"indicates translated speech"**

Now, let's begin the story.

* * *

_"Kiss me, k-k-kiss me,  
infect me with your loving, fill me with your poison  
Take me, t-t-take me,  
wanna be a victim ready for affection  
You're an alien  
your touch so flattering  
It's supernatural  
Extraterrestrial."  
_-E.T., Katy Perry

Out far away from Earth, close to half a lightyear away, a spaceship floated past, taking care to elude the Watchtower that they knew was home of the Justice League, who could easily mess up their plans.

This spaceship was not pleasant, as evidenced by the spikes that protruded from the ship's edges. The ship was circular, shaped like a round disc with a tall bridge standing above the core of the ship. Two guns were in the front of the red ship, protected by several of the deadly spikes.

As the ship sailed by the Earth, something was going on inside of the ship. Inside the ship, deep in the core, green lizard-like, red-eyed guards were rushing in, having heard some sort of disturbance. Each guard was soon armed with a spear as they came in, passing by several doors.

One such door, which was barricaded with bars, had some sort of slime creature that was red with yellow eyes. Another had some sort of black, tentacled creature with a loud mouth. Fortunately, there was protective glass so that nobody could hear its screams nor could it break out of its confinement. Yet another door had a spider-like machine that was much bigger than a spider but not entirely mechanical than a machine.

And lastly, there was the door from which the disturbance was coming from. There was heavy pounding on the door, so much so that the supposedly indestructible door was starting to dent.

The guards came out in force to surround the door, intending to keep the occupant locked inside. This door had only one slot for viewing inside, a small window towards the top that allowed the guards to notice two very angry eyes glowing a very bright green.

The first guard inquired, **"The door will hold?"**

Another guard replied, **"It must!"** as more banging and clamoring came from the other side.

A third guard noted, **"The alien will be delivered on schedule. Lord Trogaar has commanded it."**

The door begins to shake even harder as whatever is on the other side of it is starting to break loose, threatening to break the door right off of its hinges.

As the door threatened to come loose, the fourth guard wondered, **"And if this thing gets loose?"**

The first guard lamented, **"Then Zorg help us all."**

At last, the door burst out from its hinges, revealing a very angry alien on the other side. She looked human, and could easily pass for one if her eyes weren't visibly glowing green and her skin wasn't quite as tan orange as it was. Her luscious body was covered with armor that ran from her neck to her toes, with what appeared to be a black shirt connecting the pieces together. She had what looked to be a crown/mask around her face, revealing her face and letting free her long red hair. In addition, her arms from her forearms down were encased inside metal cuffs that were connected at both ends.

But most ominously of all, she was very pissed off.

The girl screamed, **"Suffer you animals! Feel my wrath!"** as she charged at her captors. While she was considerably shorter than her captors (about five and a half feet tall versus eight plus feet tall), that did not affect her fury in the slightest.

She swung her cuffed hands at one of the guards, instantly knocking him into a wall.

Another enemy charged with his spear, trying to impale her, but she delivered a kick that broke the spear in two before knocking him away from her. As another guard lunged towards her, the prisoner performed a backflip and sent two kicks that knocked the guard onto the ground.

The last guard swung his spear, which managed to block a punch that the alien was throwing, but it did nothing to stop her as she broke the spear with another good swing of her arms before she kicked him into the head and he stumbled onto a control panel, which soon caused the floor to open, revealing deep space around them.

She maliciously whispered, **"Thank you"** and jumped out, soon flying off towards Earth.

* * *

Meanwhile, down on Earth, a man wearing armor and a mask was walking down the streets of what the locals called Jump City. His clothing was completely black, aside from his boots, shoulder and knee guards, and belt, which were all gray. His cloth mask was two-tone, one half of it a bright bronze orange with a hole for his eye while the other half was a cold black.

This man was close to a legend, a myth. The only people who had seen him were people he wanted to see him or those he killed. He was a mercenary that the media called Deathstroke. He could kill in the most imaginable ways. His methods could be so severe that his victims would beg to be dead. He was a man that not even the so-called defenders of Earth, the Justice League, could defeat. He had held his own against them several times, even against the likes of Superman.

He was alone again, strolling through the empty streets of the city. Everyone else was probably out inside, having a nice relaxing dinner or banging inside of a club. Nobody to see him, nobody to verify that he officially existed.

In the eyes of the government, this man was legally dead. They launched an airstrike on his house and then sent in a squad of Navy SEALs and Marines to finish him off and make sure he was dead. He could have easily killed them, but he didn't want them to keep on his trail, so he kept hidden until they passed. It both protected him and his kids.

The man had a family - a wife and three children, until the airstrike came in, killing his oldest son and his wife while the other two, his daughter and youngest son, managed to escape, albeit with a number of injuries. To keep them safe, this Deathstroke had to avoid them to ensure that they would not be hunted by the government that wanted him dead.

Now, as for why the government wanted him dead, they had been responsible for his creation, applying a top-secret serum that was originally intended for resisting a lie detector to him. It worked all too well as it not only did what it was intended, but it greatly increased his body function. His reflexes were much stronger and faster than the average man, and he could concentrate much more of his brainpower into a single task, up to ninety percent unlike most people, who could concentrate ten percent. In addition, his body had a rapid regeneration rate, enabling him to heal from near-fatal injuries much faster than normal.

While his body could heal, he couldn't regenerate organs or limbs, explaining why his mask only had one eyehole. Still, he was a considerable soldier, one that the government had employed for many missions across the globe, until they began to believe he had developed megalomaniac tendencies and tried to have him killed.

They first employed a terrorist to abduct his youngest child so he would go after him and then they would kill him. The fact that this failed miserably goes without saying, especially when they began to cut into the kid's throat, which didn't kill him but did render him permanently mute. In the ensuing aftermath, the man's wife supposedly tried to kill him as she was too a government agent, one they didn't let in on the trap, but just took out his eye.

When their first attempt failed, the airstrike was their second try. And now, Deathstroke was listed as Killed in Action, so the government need not worry. However, many still believed that he was still alive, and they were correct.

Walking through the empty streets, Deathstroke now had new plans to go underground and build his influence across this city as he would go exact his revenge on those who attempted to kill him and broke apart his family.

However, his thoughts were interrupted by a flash of green light that rippled through the sky like a comet. The man thought to himself, _Comets aren't green, nor do they move that fast._

Realizing it was heading to impact in the city, the man quickly took pursuit, aiming to see where it was going to land and get to it before anyone else could.

* * *

Meanwhile, also in Jump City, a criminal ran through the alleyways, but on the other side of the city where the so-called Deathstroke was not currently present. He was holding a burlap sack filled to the brim with money, and now he intended to get away with it.

As he moved through the streets, he began to sense that something was off, that somebody was watching him, following him. When a shadow soon passed by, he grunted, "Huh?" and pulled out a crowbar.

He continued to walk through the alleyways, crowbar readied as he prepared to engage whoever was following him, if anyone was following him. Suddenly, something struck the crowbar and knocked it away from the thief. He immediately stammered, "Look, I don't want trouble, okay?"

As he backed up to the wall, he was suddenly surprised by the presence of a bat that flew towards him. Startled, he held his arms in front of his face in order to protect himself. When the bat passed by, he was shocked by another voice, that of a teenager, confident yet irritated, one who sounded serious about what he was doing. "You should have thought of that before you committed the crime."

Walking out of the shadows was none other than the Boy Wonder himself, Robin. He proceeded to deliver a kick that sent the burglar sliding back. He quickly replied with a bunch of frantic, ill-aimed punches that required little more than a duck to dodge, and Robin kicked him again in the chest before jumping over him and slamming him into the ground.

Dazed, the criminal uttered, "Hey! This isn't your town! Aren't you supposed to be with..."

He was cut off by Robin who remarked, "Just moved here. And from now on, I work alone." He proceeded to handcuff the burglar, preparing to bring him to the police station. In his attention to the criminal, he neglected to see the green beam of light flashing through the sky.

* * *

As the man known as Deathstroke strolled towards where he was calculating the mysterious object was moving towards, he was unsure of what exactly it was. Fortunately, nobody else was near, so this was his discovery to make and his gain. However, it could very well be his loss, but seeing how he was already presumed dead, he really didn't have all that much to lose.

He watched as the comet impacted on the street, revealing it not to be a comet, but a person, an alien - the alien who had just broken free from her prison half a lightyear away from Earth.

The alien was angry, remaining in her restraints, as she climbed out of the crater she created. She screamed, **"Remove restraints! Remove! Or there will be trouble!"**

The man, not knowing what the alien was saying, pulled out a sword and readied himself for combat with her. The alien charged at him, swinging her cuffs towards him to be blocked by the sword. She jumped away from him and soon landed right behind a taxi cab. With one swing, she instantly wrecked it and sent it flying towards the man.

He held his sword up as he ducked from the taxi, slicing the yellow cab in two. Moving away from the man, she continued swinging, striking all sorts of objects - phone booths, streetlights, and a bench, destroying them with ease.

The man, however, was unphased and continued to move forwards towards the alien. Then, she began swinging her restraints at an old, decrepit building, breaking it down after several powerful swings. He was caught right in the middle of the impact but came out relatively unharmed thanks to his healing ability.

She shouted, **"Move! Stop! Surrender!"** as she continued moving away from the man who continued advancing on her. That did not stop him as he inquired, "Who are you?"

He then swung his sword at the alien, trying to exactly deduce what she was doing. He tried to incapacitate her by cutting her arm with his sword. Unfortunately, when his sword and her skin collided, the skin won, breaking the sword in two. Commenting, "She's stronger than she looks", the man pulled out a hand grenade and lobbed it at the alien.

She had no difficulty moving away from it as it exploded, doing no damage to her nor to her armor. However, the man did not stop as he cooked another grenade, actually a belt of four grenades, and sent it towards the alien. She wasn't fast enough to dodge them and they blew up in her face.

All the while, as the two fought, neither of them noticed that they were being watched by a stoic, blue-cloaked figure whose face was hidden in shadow, hiding in the alleys, intently observing what they were up to.

Falling backwards from the explosion, the alien landed into a parked green car, all but crushing it with a huge indent across the body. She leapt out and proceeded to place her foot under the chassis of the broken car and kicked it towards the man that was following her. He barely avoided getting struck by it as he pulled out a bo-staff.

He aimed the bo-staff at the alien and soon fired it, sending a blast that knocked her off of her feet and sent her to the ground, her furied green eyes staring at the sky.

The man approached her so he could grab her and bring her back to study her. However, she was playing possum as she then swung her legs to knock the man onto the ground as she got up, continuing to move away. She didn't get too far as the man arose and fired again, trying to take her down.

The blast was intercepted by her restraints, of which the top part began to fall off. It was still attached but it was nearing being removed from her restraints, which would free up her hands.

The alien proceeded to jump towards a dumpster, slamming it with her restraints and sending it towards the man, who grabbed it and pushed it to the side.

As the man lunged towards the alien, she struck her cuffs against the ground, soon causing the top part, which covered her hands, to fall right off. While the man dodged the resulting shockwave, he soon realized that the alien now had a new weapon at her disposal.

Instantly, two green orbs began to manifest themselves in her hands and the alien instantly unleashed them, blasting him back into a wooden fence. As his body started to heal the wounds, he continued to study the alien, noticing how she attacked.

Now that her hands were free, she began blasting everything around her in a rampage. How she chose to attack seemed so...random, as if she had no purpose, no method to her madness.

Then, it began to strike him. There was a method to her madness, that she was not the one attacking, it was he. She was merely acting in self-defense, but...why? Why was she destroying everything in sight? What was going on inside of the alien's head?

The man soon thought out loud, "The handcuffs. She's trying to get them off."

Instantly, his perspective on the alien girl warped dramatically. She was trying to be free, but the restraints were interfering. Perhaps that was what she was screaming about. But the question was, how would he get her to let him remove them?

She was very volitaile and would attack if threatened, and much to the man's dislike, she could badly beat him, if not kill him. However, he did have to get close to her, but how?

The man walked up towards the alien girl, trying to get close to her, only to have the ground near him peppered with blasts from the girl. She barked out, **"Stay away!"**

However, the man calmly remained there, standing his ground. Realizing that she still thought of him as a threat, with the bo-staff he held in his hands, he dropped it on to the ground and began walking up to her.

It was obvious that the girl was confused as to what he was doing. In an attempt to reassure her, he said, "Look, I know you don't understand me. And I'm sure as hell you don't trust me. But listen to me, I'm here to help you. I'm here to remove your restraints."

The man held his hands in the air as he proceeded closer and closer to her, and she held her arms up, ready to attack if she noticed anything malicious in him. However, she couldn't notice his facial expressions behind his mask. She yelled, **"Remove your mask!"**

Suddenly, the man had reached her and soon moved her arms away from his head so she could not attack him. Holding the restraints in one hand, he pulled out a lock pick from his utility belt and proceeded to unlock the girl's restraints, freeing her arms from them.

The alien soon rubbed her wrists, the constraints that bound her were gone, and she was free. As the man said, "You're welcome", he was suddenly grabbed and then had his mask flipped up as a major kiss was plucked on his lips.

After several seconds, the man found himself flat on the ground as the alien said, "If you do not wish to be destroyed, you will leave me alone!"

Then, without warning, the alien flew away from him and the man soon got up, shaking the dust off of him as he put his mask back on, snarking, "She kisses me, then she threatens me. Very valuable indeed. The search for her has just become a hell of a lot harder."

Grabbing his bo-staff, the man began his search for the alien, trying to find where she had gone.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in space, on the very ship that the alien girl had escaped from, a green lizard was on the bridge, waiting for a communication with his "employer".

After several moments, the lizard alien's "employer", a humanoid alien female with long black hair and violet eyes, wearing an outfit similar to the prisoner that had previously escaped the ship, but with a cloak and without any of the restraints, came on screen, asking _**"Do you have the prisoner?"**_

He replied, **"Yes, we do, Grand Empress. We will have her delivered as promised."**

She commented, _**"I have heard a lot about you and your men, Lord Trogaar. I expect that you will not dissapoint me, especially given the prisoner you are transporting."**_

**"We will bring her, and then you owe me payment for the job."**

_**"If you're as good as your reputation says. End transmission."**_

The "employer", the so-called Grand Empress, terminated the connection, leaving the lizard, apparently Lord Trogaar, waiting on the bridge of his ship, knowing that the prisoner they were supposed to be escorting was now missing.

Trogaar commanded, **"Get this ship to the planet known as Earth immediately. The Empress cannot be disappointed."**

With that command, the ship soon began a course for Earth, intending to catch the prisoner that had gone missing.

* * *

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the man continued searching for the alien girl that had gotten away from him. Now, she was free and running amok across the city. Then again, she probably wasn't going to cause as much destruction as she did, but she was now much harder to track down, especially since now she can fly.

Or could she always do that? That was one of the many questions the man had for the alien he was tracking. The girl was a complete enigma - she spoke in some bizarre alien language until she kissed him. How could a person learn an entire language with just a kiss? It was more likely that she had learned a phrase, but why wait until after she was freed to say it? Perhaps they learned languages through body contact.

Just another reason why he wanted her. His own alien he could examine and use. If he could find her, wherever she was.

As he searched high and low for her, the gap she had on him could be widening. She sparked off about as fast as, well, light. Even with his enhanced speed, he was nowhere near as fast as her - she would make the Flash seem like a slowpoke.

Just as he began to worry that he wouldn't find her, he spotted her at an empty convienence store. He said to himself, "She must be hungry."

Moving stealthily, the man pulled out a customized Heckler & Koch USP45 as he snuck up on the alien, who was currently ripping through the store shelves, eating everything she could find, from chips to cookies, even the frozen food.

As she ate almost without end, he quietly aimed the USP45 at her, intending to knock her out. Before he could, however, she struck him in the arm, knocking the gun out of his reach as she aimed a powerful green beam at his head.

However, the man kicked her, causing her beam to impact the ceiling as he charged back on her. He was strong, but unfortunately for him, she was stronger and knocked him into a store shelf.

As he struggled to get up from the ground, she held a glowing hand to his throat, growling, "Identify yourself. What is your name?"

The man calmly replied, "Call me Slade."

She commented, "Well then, Slade. I told you to leave me alone! Why did you follow me?"

"You interested me." He then pushed her away from him, which wasn't terribly enough to distract her for long. But it was long enough for Slade as he grabbed the gun and held it to the back of the alien's neck, claiming, "I don't know much about your physiology, whoever you are, but I am sure that you will not survive a forty-five caliber round to the neck. Now, if you desire to live, tell me your name."

The alien choked out, "In my native tongue, my name would be Koriand'r. In your tongue, it would be Star...fire. Starfire."

* * *

Okay, I'm willing to bet you weren't expecting this. Like I said, this isn't going to be anything like I had written before. I chose not to introduce the character names until I feel it was absolutely necessary. You probably knew who they were, but I was trying to introduce the characters in a way you would be fairly familiar with. We'll go deeper with Starfire and Slade in the next two chapters or so, and Robin will come along more in a little while. And I'm perfectly willing to bet you know who the Grand Empress and the blue-cloaked girl were.


	2. Human

**Author's Notes**

To Angel of Azarath, the Star/Slade pairing is one of the most unusual on the site. Of all 63 or so stories that had both Starfire and Slade, I'd say less than ten of them were truly Star/Slade. I wanted to do something different this story.

To shadowyshadow, there was a song from Skillet that I thought would work for this story, and it will be in one of the chapters. The singers I named in the first chapter are only some of the artists with songs in this story.

To JP-Rider, the next chapter or so will conclude the introduction and we'll get deeper along in the story.

To sm4567, your review to the previous chapter was the longest review I have ever read for one of my stories - I'm glad you liked it so much. I wanted to keep as much of the original comics around as possible while keeping the same tone of the original series. Slade's weaponry was done akin to his Deathstroke loadout, including the bo-staff blaster (which was one of his main weapons in the comics), the gun, and sword (which I may have made a bit more powerful, but not too powerful as Starfire shattered it). Much of the fight was done so it would be similar to the fight between Robin and Starfire in _Go!_ Raven will play a significant role, but she won't be introduced by name until about halfway through the story, and the love triangles I mentioned in the first chapter will be present, especially as we get into the next few chapters as Robin and Blackfire get fleshed out more.

Okay, now we'll have some more fighting, with Starfire, Slade, and the Gordonians after we pick up from the convenience store fight.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

Previously on _Ascendant_:

_As he struggled to get up from the ground, she held a glowing hand to his throat, growling, "Identify yourself. What is your name?"_

_The man calmly replied, "Call me Slade."_

_She commented, "Well then, Slade. I told you to leave me alone! Why did you follow me?"_

_"You interested me." He then pushed her away from him, which wasn't terribly enough to distract her for long. But it was long enough for Slade as he grabbed the gun and held it to the back of the alien's neck, claiming, "I don't know much about your physiology, whoever you are, but I am sure that you will not survive a forty-five caliber round to the neck. Now, if you desire to live, tell me your name."_

_The alien choked out, "In my native tongue, my name would be Koriand'r. In your tongue, it would be Star...fire. Starfire."_

* * *

"_Are we human  
__or are we dancer  
__My sign is vital  
__my hands are cold  
__And I'm on my knees  
__looking for the answer  
__Are we human  
__or are we dancer?"  
_-Human, The Killers

Starfire soon performed a backflip and grabbed the gun away from Slade, sliding it towards an opened package of crackers. Slade then sent a punch towards Starfire which the alien blocked before kicking Slade in the stomach.

Slade, however, soon grabbed Starfire in a headlock before pushing her onto the ground, demanding, "Why are you here, Starfire? And why were you restrained?"

Starfire began to choke out, "I was escaping from my captors. The Gordonians."

"And who are the Gordonians?"

"Enemies of my home planet. On your world, you would refer to them as reptilian. They are fearsome warriors even to my people."

"And why were you their prisoner?"

"I am no prisoner. I am_ balach't_, prize. They were delivering me to the Citadel to live out the remainder of my life as a slave."

"Why? What happened?"

"As you might say, the story is too complicated to be told at the moment. The Gordonians are searching for me as we speak. They are highly resilient and carry a number of powerful weapons which you would call weapons of major vaporization."

"The term is weapons of mass destruction. Didn't anybody on your home planet show you kindness?"

"There is no word for kind on my planet. The closest is _rutha_, weak."

"Well, on Earth, kindness and weakness are distinct words. I'm sure that on your planet they were distinct too."

"The only person back home to show me kindness was my _k'norfka_."

"Who?"

"You would liken him to a nanny, a guardian. He would be called 'nice'. The Citadel, on the other shoulder, are not nice."

"Why were you so strong? How do you fly? And shoot those lasers?"

"My people are warriors, given the frequency of attacks on my home planet, we have to be trained and ready. My abilities, or as you might say, powers, are derived from my emotions. I require unbridled joy in order to fly, boundless confidence to utilize my strength, and righteous fury to fire my starbolts."

"Well, I guess you and your civilization are very powerful people, Starfire."

Slade then began to release his headlock on Starfire only for her to return the favor and put Slade into a headlock of his own. She demanded, "Now, Slade, I expect some answers from you. How were you so well trained? Why are you so strong?"

"First, it's 'on the other hand', secondly, I am a former Army soldier, a warrior. Unlike many of my fellow soldiers, I was given a serum that enhanced my strength, reflexes, and healing."

"Do you have anybody that would show you kindness?"

"I don't know. They are either dead or on the run from the people who want me dead."

"And why do these people want to kill you?"

"The serum that gave me my strength had some unexpected side effects. It's a long story, one I doubt we have time for. Someone's coming. Several someones."

"The Gordonians."

Slade quickly rushed for his gun, only to be knocked to the side by Starfire, unsure of what his intentions are - to save her, to return her to the Citadel, or something else, being experimented on, just like she was by the Psions.

A Gordonian squad soon arrived at the store, proceeding to aim a large particle cannon towards the front of the store. Ten Gordonians armed with spears were readied, preparing to take down their prisoner, their cargo.

The cannon fired and decimated the front of the store. Fortunately for Starfire and Slade, they were well out of range of the impact and remained unharmed, not as if an impact would be too troubling though.

As the Gordonian squad swept through the store, searching for Starfire, the alien began her attack on them, blasting one with her starbolts, leaving a major hole in his chest. The others quickly opened fire on her but she dodged each attack as she flew through the store.

She rammed up to another soldier, grabbing him with her super strength before smashing him against the floor and then throwing him onto the ceiling.

Another soldier began firing his spear at Starfire only to have the spear shot apart by his target and then she rammed into him, snapping his neck before going after another one of the Gordonians.

While she attacked that Gordonian, another managed to strike her twice in the back, causing her to fall to the ground. As the two Gordonians prepared to grab her to bring her back to their ship, three gunshots rang out and the two Gordonians fell down dead.

Starfire stared at the impact and then saw Slade, holding the smoking USP45, having shot the two in order to save her.

As a result, two more Gordonians charged at Slade. He handled the first with a blast from his bo-staff, which blasted the lizard into a freezer and put two bullets in the other's head, killing him.

However, one of the remaining three Gordonians shot the weapon out of Slade's hand before he charged at him. Slade turned around and caught the Gordonian's fist with one of his own before flipping him onto the ground and stomping on his neck, killing him.

Before the last two Gordonians could finish him off, Starfire shot one with her starbolts before slamming the last one into the ground. The two had handled the entire squad.

* * *

Back on the Gordonian ship, Lord Trogaar was waiting for the response from the squad he had sent out to capture Starfire and bring her back to him. The Empress could not be disappointed, or the consequences would be less than pleasant.

As he sat at the helm waiting for word on their success, a messenger, who was a bit timid, rushed into the bridge. Lord Trogaar boomed, **"Do you have the cargo?"**

The messenger replied, **"A squad was sent to intercept her at a location known as Grubs to Go."**

**"Do you have her or not?"**

**"Unfortunately, the squad is dead. She fought back, but not just her. A human joined forces with her. Fighting them would be inadvisable as she is no longer bound."**

**"Well, then I will destroy their miserable city. And in the ashes, she will be brought back on board, secured even tighter and brought to the Empress. Failure is not an option, understood?"**

**"Understood, Lord Trogaar."**

**"Good. Tell the crew at the particle beam to ready the weapon for mass impact."**

* * *

Back at the convenience store where Starfire and Slade were surrounded by the bodies of ten slain Gordonians, Slade was making sure that there were no traces of the brown Gordonian blood on his suit. Starfire, on the other hand, didn't wash it off. Slade asked, "Aren't you going to wash off your clothing?"

Starfire replied, "No. My people would not wash out stains of the enemies they killed. It serves as a reminder of what they had accomplished. Have you ever killed someone before tonight, Slade?"

"Yes, Starfire. More than you might think."

Suddenly, the belt on one of the dead Gordonians began to ring as it detached from his body, revealing the angry image of Lord Trogaar. He screamed, **"Starfire, you are to surrender at once! Return to the ship once it arrives at what the Earthlings call Wain Island in five minutes. If you resist, or if you do not show, we will destroy the city and everybody in it. Make your choice. I'll be waiting."**

The image suddenly faded and Slade inquired, "What did that guy say, exactly?"

Starfire explained, "He was ordering me to surrender. Lord Trogaar is threatening to use a particle beam against the city. He will be at Wain Island in five minutes and expects me there to surrender."

"How powerful is the weapon?"

"One blast from it at a reasonably close range, say half a mile in the sky, and he could kill at least one million humans."

"That sounds very dangerous."

"Maybe to you, but that is not anywhere near as deadly as their largest weapon, which could destroy an entire planet in one shot. I have no choice but to give myself up to save them."

However, before she could fly off, Slade grabbed her wrist, demanding, "No. You aren't going to surrender to Trogaar. I will not allow you to bend to his will simply because of his weapons."

Starfire countered, "But do you want to have all these people destroyed?"

"No. We have a third option, destroy them before they destroy us."

"The ship that they have has dozens of guards. We would have no chance of defeating them all, and then they would unleash their weapon."

"We will not fail, Starfire. It's actually quite simple, really. We infiltrate the ship and destroy it. One good bomb planted inside the ship should kill them all and destroy the weapon. It's a win-win. You don't go the Citadel, and innocents don't lose their lives."

"Alright, then, Slade. We will attack. But I do not see a bomb on you. How will we destroy their ship without an explosive device?"

"I have some weapons stored at a nearby cache. Let's go. We don't have time to waste."

Slade ran out of the ruined store and found a nearby dumpster. He quickly pushed the dumpster away from its place to reveal what looked like a hatch sealed with a padlock.

Slade typed in the four numbers - 7, 2, 5, 1, and opened up the hatch, which revealed several guns, a sword, another bo-staff, and several explosives. He grabbed the sword and sheathed it on his back, picking up the belt which held two Para Ordnance LDA handguns plus spare magazines, as well as another belt with ten cases of gunpowder mixed with ammonium nitrate - the bomb.

Starfire wondered, "Is that going to be enough for the attack on the Gordonian ship?"

Slade smirked, "It will. Now, let's get to Wain Island. We don't want Lord Trogaar to be disappointed."

Starfire grabbed Slade and immediately took off towards Wain Island, where they would ambush the Gordonians and destroy the ship, preventing them from destroying the city and capturing Starfire.

* * *

The two arrived at Wain Island with more than a minute to spare and quickly Starfire prepared to get Slade onboard the ship when it arrived. They would take out the Gordonians trying to capture her, then they would take out the aliens on the bridge of the ship so they couldn't utilize the weapon, then plant the bomb in the engine room, then escape as the bomb took out the Gordonian ship.

Starfire stood on the small island, awaiting the arrival of the Gordonian ship which was preparing to land in Jump City while Slade lay still on a nearby zodiac boat, so when the ship landed, he could grapple on board and do some damage.

At last, the massive, intimidating Gordonian ship landed and touched down in the water, close enough for Slade to pull out a grappling line and attach himself onto the ship, departing from his boat and planting himself on top of the ship, unseen by any of the guards.

Four Gordonians proceeded to exit the ship, armed with spears as they approached Starfire with handcuffs, preparing to bring her back into custody.

As Slade slinked inside of the ship, Starfire proceeded to kick one of the Gordonians, the one holding her restraints, into the sea before attacking the others, shooting one with her starbolts before twisting the neck of the third and then strangling the fourth.

One of the crew members quickly saw what Starfire was doing and tried to raise the alarm. Emphasis on tried as Slade shot him in the head before he could. Several other Gordonians nearby tried to take down Slade only to meet a barrage of .45-caliber rounds into their bodies, killing them.

When Slade's guns clicked empty, he returned them to their holsters and pulled out his sword, strolling through the ship and taking down any Gordonian he saw. Meanwhile, Starfire flew into the ship and blasted the first Gordonian she saw on sight.

Another Gordonian charged at her, but she ducked and grabbed his spear, using it to blow his head off. She moved onto another Gordonian, wrapping the spear around his neck to suffocate him.

Slade continued to make his way through the Gordonian ship, stabbing any enemy he saw in the abdomen or decapitating them. After slashing his way through several Gordonians, he pulled out his bo-staff and began casually blasting away the enemies he encountered. They may have been wearing armor, but it wasn't anywhere near strong enough to stop the double onslaught of Starfire and Slade.

After several moments of fighting through the Gordonians, Starfire and Slade met up near the elevator to the bridge. Slade inquired, "Ready?"

Starfire smirked, "I am always ready." The two boarded the elevator as it soon brought them up to the bridge where Lord Trogaar was waiting for any news about the status of his prisoner. Unfortunately for him, the two were already approaching him, having killed anybody trying to alert him to their presence.

The elevator then arrived at the bridge and the two exited, waiting to strike the two Gordonians guarding the entrance to the bridge. Slade sheathed his sword and placed his bo-staff back on his back as he pulled out his LDA handguns, reloading them as he aimed at the guards. Slade ordered, "I'll take the one on the right. On your go."

Starfire nodded in agreement and charged at the guard on her left, blasting him with a starbolt that tore his chest wide open. Slade fired two rounds into the other guard's neck. Once both guards slumped dead, Slade kicked down the door to the bridge and aimed his weapons at the Gordonians inside. Starfire followed, floating in with two green-lit fists.

Trogaar mocked, **"So the humans decide to interfere with my reacquisition of the cargo. You will pay for your insubordination. You will not stop us."**

Starfire quickly explained to Slade, "He is doing the mocking of you and the threatening as well."

Slade challenged, "Well then, Trogaar. Prepare to have yourselves ruined." He immediately opened fire with his handguns, taking out several Gordonians nearby as Starfire opened up with her starbolts, beginning to fry the ship's computer systems.

As Trogaar ducked behind one of the chairs, he yelled out to his underlings, **"Stop them! They are going to destroy the ship! One good hit from the cargo's starbolts could fry any of the systems. Defense and takeoff capabilities are in danger, so stop them. Kill the human, leave the cargo alive. We still have to maintain our deal with the Empress."**

With that, more Gordonians began to flood into the room, charging towards Starfire and Slade. As good as the duo were, they unfortunately began to be swarmed by the massive numbers against them. When Slade's guns clicked empty, a Gordonian's spear blast quickly knocked them out of Slade's reach.

Slade proceeded to blast off two Gordonians away from him with his bo-staff as Starfire grabbed one of the Gordonians before tossing him back into the crowd.

Starfire commented, "There are too many of them. We cannot possibly sustain this fight against them."

Slade noted, "Maybe, but the mission still remains possible. Let's get to the engine room before they overwhelm us. Blow up the ship and kill them all."

Starfire fired off some more starbolts to repel the Gordonians long enough for the two of them to exit, proceeding to head away from the bridge as they began to travel towards the engine room close to the center of the ship.

Lord Trogaar immediately realized what they were doing and began to pursue them, holding a very large blaster as he commanded, **"To the engine room immediately. They are trying to blow the ship!"**

Immediately, the bulk of his men followed him, hoping to stop the cargo and her human ally from destroying the ship. Meanwhile, as Starfire and Slade ran through the ship, they attacked every Gordonian they saw. Slade used his sword to cut right through them as Starfire blasted away with her starbolts.

As Trogaar and his men passed through, they saw a mess of dead bodies, blood and guts everywhere. That had not been a fight, it had been a slaughter for the Gordonians. They quickly increased their pace, needing to catch up with the two of them before they reached the engine rooms and planted the bomb.

After several minutes of moving, Starfire and Slade arrived at the engine room, a large assembly of machines pumping to power the ship. They were connected to massive barrels of highly combustible fuel and all the machines were operating rapidly.

This meant that while a detonation was guaranteed, it would come much faster than the two of them had anticipated, and the size of the explosion could very well kill them, something that neither of them wanted.

They had to slow the engines enough so they could plant the bomb in and control the time of the detonation, so they'd have enough time to escape while the Gordonians would be blown up.

Slade asked, "Starfire, do you know how to slow down the engines?"

Starfire answered, "The black lever on the side wall. Push it down ninety degrees and that will put the reduced speed mode."

As Slade moved towards the black lever, he was tackled by a Gordonian, nearly causing the explosives he carried to explode. Slade proceeded to wrestle with the soldier as Trogaar and his men reinforced the Gordonian currently wrestling with Slade.

Starfire barraged the oncoming Gordonians with starbolts, forcing them to fall back as Slade proceeded to poke out one of the Gordonian's eyes. After that, a blow to the throat finished him off.

With him down, Slade went up to the lever and pushed it down ninety degrees. Immediately, the machines began to slow down, indicating that the engines were slowing down. While this was happening, the ship began to drop towards the ground, especially as there were fewer hands on the bridge to level the descent.

He quickly unhooked the belt carrying the explosives and dropped them into the engine. Starfire asked, "How long until the explosives detonate?"

Slade remarked, "Based on the rate of the machine movement and the explosives themselves, ninety seconds. Let's go."

The two of them quickly proceeded towards the exit, but the Gordonians soon flooded in, wanting to remove the explosives from the engine before it's too late.

Realizing that if they don't do something, their plan would fail, the two turned around and began blasting at the Gordonians, trying to delay them long enough to ensure that the explosives detonate.

After thirty seconds of blasting, the two of them left, sure that their bomb wouldn't be removed. Now, it was all a matter of getting out before their bomb exploded.

As the two ran towards an outer wall from which they could escape from the ship, Lord Trogaar opened fire with his blaster at Starfire and Slade. His first rounds struck Starfire in the back, causing her to impact the wall.

Trogaar yelled, **"You want to blow up the ship? Then, you're going down with us!"**

Slade jumped towards Trogaar, unsheathing his sword as he leapt towards him, slicing the blaster in two with his sword. Slade then swung his sword rapidly at Trogaar, forcing him backwards as he steadily lost ground against him.

Trogaar, however, refused to lose, and began pressing back, blocking Slade's blows before kicking him in the abdomen, causing him to fall back near Starfire. The two of them knew that there wasn't a lot of time left before the bomb detonated and killed them.

Slade also refused to lose and sent one last thrust towards Trogaar, slicing off his right hand, causing him to scream. As he began to bleed out, Slade ran back up to Starfire, who was still alive and not quite as injured as she should have been by that sort of blast.

Slade grabbed Starfire and pulled out his bo-staff, firing it at the wall and destroying it. The two then jumped right out of the ship and landed into the water unharmed.

He then proceeded to drag Starfire back to the zodiac and placed her on board before hopping on himself, driving it away from the ship as it exploded, killing everybody on board and destroying the ship.

* * *

On the other side of Jump City, Robin, who was doing a patrol, suddenly heard the massive explosion coming from Wain Island. He quickly got onto his R-Cycle and drove towards Wain Island, trying to investigate what was going on.

By the time he had arrived at the island, all he saw was the flaming wreckage of the Gordonian ship sinking into the water. Curious, Robin dismounted from his R-Cycle and grabbed from his utility belt a portable breather before diving into the water to see what was going on.

He then pulled out a waterproof camera to record what he had found as he investigated the mysterious ship. He entered through the elevator at the bottom of the ship, finding several dead, burned bodies.

Robin swam over to one of them, feeling the Gordonian's body before he noticed a massive hole blown through his chest. He thought, _This man was dead before the explosion. Wait a minute, this isn't a human. Who are these guys?_

He continued through the ship, finding more dead bodies and several limbs. At this point, it was abundantly clear that many of them had died before the ship exploded, which meant that somebody had attacked them before blowing up the ship.

When he reached the engine room of the ship, he saw the whole place had been badly charred. _This must have been the source of the explosion._

He looked at one of the badly destroyed fuel barrels and noted to himself, _Fuel source. Highly flammable at that._ Robin moved towards the engine to get a trace of the explosive. _Gunpowder, ammonium nitrate, very potent together. Ninety second fuse. And ten of them, they intended to blow up the ship, but why? Who?_

Before he could continue his deliberations, Robin saw that his breather was running out of oxygen. In order to relocate the ship, Robin placed a locator beacon in the engine room before proceeding to swim out of the ship and back on shore. In the process, he had failed to see that the zodiac containing Starfire and Slade had vanished, nor that he was under observation by the same eyes that had watched Slade when he fought Starfire.

* * *

Out in space, on board the Empress's ship, the ivory-haired Empress awaited news on the status of the cargo being delivered to the Citadel. She inquired, **"Damyn, what is the status of the cargo?"**

Damyn, who looked nothing like the Empress, was a dark teal with two profuding fangs and was bulky, wearing a dark black battle suit, turned around to face the Empress. He replied, **"We are waiting on the word of Lord Trogaar. He said it will be delivered on time. He promised."**

The Empress sighed, **"Many men make promises Damyn, but few achieve them. Just because he made a promise does not mean he will keep it, whether he choses to, or whether fate allows it. Where is Lord Trogaar?"**

Suddenly, a messenger that was similar to Damyn, but slightly smaller, ran into the room. **"Empress, we have a problem."**

**"What is it, Fauro?"**

**"Lord Trogaar's ship was found on Earth. There was a massive explosion that destroyed it. We have yet to pick up any survivors."**

**"Then the cargo is dead. My people are disappointed, Empress."**

**"No, the cargo is not dead, Damyn. She escaped and Trogaar failed to reclaim her. See what I said about promises. Bring the ship close to Earth orbit. I'm going down there to find the cargo."**

**"Are you sure about this, Empress? Humans aren't the most...cooperative."**

**"Clearly some of them are, as the cargo fought against the Gordonians. I will send you a beacon once I have located her and then we will return them to you, Damyn and your Citadel. That's an order."**

With that, the ship the Empress was on began to take off and accelerated at FTL (faster than light) speeds, heading towards Earth to retrieve Starfire.

* * *

Okay, I know you're thinking that I made Starfire a bit OOC (out of character), but keep in mind that Starfire is from an alien warrior race, and that type of behavior wouldn't be entirely out of character. About the same with Slade. We'll explore Starfire and Slade in the next few chapters, as well as Robin, the Empress, and the observant girl soon after.

In the comics, Damyn was a Citadel commander and Blackfire's lover, until she killed him when the Titans were using him as a hostage. Just to let you know. This story will straddle the line between the cartoon and the comics, just to let you know.

However, I'm on vacation next week to Florida so I likely won't be able to update this story. I have a challenge set up for you readers. To follow the rules of fanfiction, I have created a forum that contains all the information.

Under Teen Titans forums, look for "Walking Away Challenge", under Contests. Follow the rules, please.

And if you got an e-mail about chapter 3, disregard it. I simply posted and deleted a chapter so you would notice my update. Sorry if that was an inconvienence.


	3. What Doesn't Kill You

**Author's Notes**

To Angel of Azarath, I'll be blending elements of comics Starfire with cartoon Starfire – she'll remain the lethal warrior she was on Tamaran (primarily because instead of being with the nonlethal vigilante Robin, she is with the soldier Slade) but she's still fairly clueless about Earth culture. With this story, I want to give a new interpretation of Starfire, exploring her past in greater detail and reimagining her, which resulted in the new version of _Go!_

To JP-Rider, things are going to get a lot more interesting in the coming chapters as we go into the pasts of Slade and Starfire, as well as bring Blackfire to Earth and to Robin.

To shadowyshadow, thanks for the review.

To Anon, your review was certainly long, but it was fairly complicated for me to read, yet I think I got out of it the necessary elements. None of the villains of this story are going to be imbeciles or buffoonish, primarily Blackfire, who will be very deceptive, like a smug snake, playing Robin in order to get what she wants, which we'll go further in depth before the end of the story. Slade definitely is more than a match for the Justice League, especially as shown in _Identity Crisis_, where he took down Flash, Zatanna, Hawkman, Black Canary, Atom, and Green Arrow in just seconds, courtesy of his enhanced brainpower and his reflexes. He could even go toe-to-toe with Batman, and the Caped Crusader would have his work cut out for him if Slade chose to go for hand-to-hand combat rather than simply stab him in the back or shoot him in the head. Your picture of the perfect Wilson family is going to have to wait for a different story – I had planned from the beginning to have Adeline and Grant dead and Joseph and Rose wounded before the start of the story. Slade is a patriot, but he wouldn't hesitate to go after his own government if they targeted those he holds dearest – he is a family man above all else. I wanted to have as many elements as possible from the comics while making it my own story. As for Wintergreen, you'll have to wait and see if I decide to use him in the story, but he'll at least be mentioned.

To sm4567, the songs I chose to use for this story were those that I have heard at one point or another and felt that would work in the context of this story. If you threaten Starfire, Slade, or those that they care about, you should have a will ready as they will pound you into submission if not kill you. As to how Slade's rounds killed the Gordonians, let's just say that the lizard aliens had armor that wasn't designed to counter bullets – how would they know that they would one day go to fight humans on Earth? I never meant for Trogaar and his men to have a significant part in the story, just one or two chapters – they were just build-up fodder for Blackfire, who Robin will be encountering very soon. And Raven will come into play eventually.

To ForeverMe65, compared to the Starfire from the series, the Starfire in _Go!_ seems out-of-character, but when taking in account the society she grew up in - her behavior makes more sense. A lot of people tend to portray Slade as a sadistic antagonist, myself not excluded from that, but there are some people who make him a more sympathetic character - Slade now has a purpose in this story, and this chapter will go deeper into Slade.

Just as a heads up for the remainder of the story, flashbacks will be in _italics _and are narrated in first person.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

_"What doesn't kill you  
__makes you stronger  
Stand a little taller  
Doesn't mean I'm lonely  
when I'm alone  
What doesn't kill you  
makes a fighter  
Footsteps even lighter  
Doesn't mean I'm over  
'cause you're gone  
What doesn't kill you  
makes you stronger, stronger  
Just me, myself, and I  
What doesn't kill you  
makes you stronger  
Stand a little taller  
Doesn't mean I'm lonely  
when I'm alone"  
_-What Doesn't Kill You, Kelly Clarkson

After killing Lord Trogaar and his men, Slade drove the Zodiac boat containing himself and Starfire back to one of his bases in the city. He needed to make sure that she was still alive after Trogaar had hit her with his blaster. Arriving at his base, Slade made sure that the security was up so he wouldn't have to deal with any intruders before going to work on Starfire.

He began pulling off the armor that comprised Starfire's shirt so he could have a better view of her back. As he took off the armor that made up her clothing, he began readying a spare set of clothing for her to wear. Looking at Starfire's body, Slade noted that she looked very human-like. Only her pure green eyes, orange skin, and her powers differentiated her from a normal human girl.

After taking off the armor, leaving her in a red undershirt and a purple skirt, as well as dark purple undergarnments beneath them, Slade examined one of the pieces of it. To most humans, it would be very heavy, but for Slade, it was relatively light, as he had enhanced strength as a result of the super-serum. Slade thought to himself, _How could she support this weight? She's, what, one hundred sixty, one hundred seventy pounds, and this armor weighs maybe two hundred or so pounds? Then again, she withstood a number of hard hits, and broke my sword. Yet again, there's more to her than meets the eye._

Examining the wound on Starfire's back, Slade was surprised to see that the impact was minimal, as if it barely made a dent. Slade took a look at the armor piece from her back and saw that the round had passed right through the armor. However, he could not find the rounds that had struck her. It was an energy blast, but from what he had seen from other blasters of its ilk was that there would be a more pronounced impact. It was as if Starfire was much more resilient than she should be.

He'd have to wait for Starfire to come to before she could provide answers to the questions he was looking for. One thing that did concern Slade, a man of relatively few concerns, was Starfire when she woke up and most likely attacked him. He went to his weapons cabinet and pulled out a Smith & Wesson Model 627 and readied it in the event Starfire attacked him. He removed the live .357 Magnum rounds, not wanting to permanently injure her, and replaced them with plaster rounds, which would sting, but not penetrate. Just what Slade needed in order to ensure that Starfire would be able to answer his questions.

After several minutes of waiting, Starfire finally began to awaken, twisting and turning on the bed Slade had placed her on. Her eyes fluttered open as she began to take in her surroundings, realizing first that she was not on the Gordonian ship. Second, she realized that she was laying down on her back, and she quickly turned upside to get a better view of her surroundings. She saw herself on a bed and soon saw that her armor had been removed. As she finished looking around, she saw Slade sitting down right in front of the bed.

Slade calmly remarked, "You've been out for a while, Starfire. Nice seeing you awake."

Starfire instantly began preparing a starbolt to fire at Slade, only for Slade to shoot her in the arm, forcing her back onto the bed. She screamed, "What did you do to me?"

Slade explained, "It was a simple bullet, modified not to kill, but to cause some pain to stop a certain reaction. It's the laws of stimulus and response. I have to know why your first thought upon awakening was to attack me with your starbolts."

"I was on a bed, unconscious, and you had removed my armor. I may not be of Earth, but there are certain implications that this brings up."

"I didn't rape you if that's what you are wondering. It goes against my code. And our attack on the Gordonian ship was a success. The ship's destroyed and all of them are dead."

"Thank X'Hal for that. But, Slade, why were you taking off my armor?"

"I needed to check your wound. Trogaar shot you twice in the back. But from the looks of it, the blast barely did anything to you."

"Ah, Lord Trogaar thought he could knock me out long enough to bring me back to the Citadel, but you intervened, did you not?"

"I kicked Trogaar's ass and got you out of the ship before it blew. And I brought you here. I do have to ask you though, how did you end up a prisoner? Why were they taking you to the Citadel?"

"It is a story most complicated. Just as you say your story about your enhancements is."

Slade walked over to the bed and pulled towards him a chair that he then sat down in. "So, which of us is going to go first?"

"We could play _tikker to shobef _to determine that." Upon noticing Slade's confusion, she continued, "It is a simple game where you try to finish the Poem of Eternity before your opponent. A quick game would take just fifteen hours."

"I don't think we have fifteen hours. How about we just flip a coin?" Slade then pulled out of his pocket a half-dollar coin and explained, "Call which side you think the coin is going to land on. Heads or tails. If you call it right, I'll tell my story first. You good with that?"

"I am good with that, and I call the tails." Slade flipped the coin up into the air before landing onto his palm. He closed his palm and deposited the coin on the top of his other hand.

"Tails. You called it. I guess it's my story now. I ask that you refrain from asking questions until I have finished."

* * *

_Where to begin...okay, I come from a prestigious military family. My father was one of the first volunteers for the Vietnam War, and served the entire war, which was surprising given how many people actively tried to avoid being enlisted. My grandfather was a high-ranking officer during the First World War, and served as a commanding officer and trainer during the Second World War and the Korean War._

_Needless to say, I had a lot to live up to. From birth, I was raised to become a soldier, the skills necessary for survival. Shortly after the Vietnam War, when I turned sixteen, I enlisted into the Army myself. Normally, you have to be eighteen to become part of the Army, so I used a false identification. While I know that they saw right through my fake credentials, my family's legacy persuaded them to look the other way._

_For four years, I trained among the best to become the best, a soldier that would live up to the standards of my family. While I trained, I met the closest thing I had to a friend, a Special Air Service operative named William Randolph Wintergreen._

_When training was finished, Wintergreen was sent out into the field while I was sent elsewhere. My skills had made me of particular interest to the Army, and they had Major Adeline Kane to observe me. She evaluated me, and they decided to test on me a new serum. From what I had overheard regarding the serum, it was supposed to make me resist lie detectors and enhance my brainpower._

_Needless to say, it didn't go entirely according to plan. I underwent a severe reaction to the serum and was bedridded in a coma for some time. Adeline told me later on that they thought I would never be able to walk again, that I would be relegated to desk work. From what she had observed in me, she knew I hated desk work and said, and I quote, "You might as well shoot him now as he will not work from a desk."_

_I came to, and I began to notice things about me changing, not in my appearance, but in other aspects. I found that my muscles had become able to endure much more weight than they had normally, at least twice as much as a normal human would be able to handle. I also discovered that my brain capacity had been modified. They say that you can only use ten percent of your brain at any time, which is only partially true. You can only _concentrate_ ten percent of your brainpower to any task, as the rest of it is used for other purposes, such as basic bodily functions and memory. Now, I could concentrate ninety percent of my brainpower to any one task._

_They said I could think ten moves ahead of anyone. But, perhaps most importantly for me, my body now had more rapid healing, as now many of my injuries could be handled and wouldn't impede on my performance. Regardless of the gains I received from the serum, they sent me to be a paper-pusher, thinking I was no longer able to fight._

_They wouldn't listen to me when I told them that I could still fight, and was better than ever. Around the same time, Wintergreen's unit was ambushed in southern Congo. Only he survived and was taken as a prisoner by rebels. Because this was a black operation, the government decided to leave him for dead._

_I wouldn't, and since they wouldn't put me in the field, I went out on my own. I made a makeshift outfit, much like the one I have now, and flew out to Congo. Armed with a machete and a Colt M1911, I proceeded to slaughter the camp where Wintergreen was held, and rescued him, bringing him back to America._

_It was this heroic action that got me discharged from the Army, and Adeline soon followed me, quitting the Army in disgust over their policies. We settled down in a nice home in the Colorado countryside and we got married. Wintergreen lived nearby and was a family friend to us._

_When Adeline was pregnant with my first child, the government contacted me, and decided to send me out on classified missions as the mercenary Deathstroke. I agreed, and Adeline was kept in the dark, being told I was a businessman making ventures across the globe._

_Ventures, yes, as I killed whoever they told me to. I was a soldier, and I always followed orders. And by completing these missions, I was once again the soldier I always wanted to be, and supported Adeline._

_A few months after I was hired by the government, Adeline gave birth to my first son, Grant. Within four years, Adeline gave birth to two more children - Rose and Joseph._

_Grant seemed most interested in my line of work, wanting to become a soldier like the other men in his family. But by this point, my grandfather was long dead and so was my father. The Wilson family line now rested with me. Joseph was the exact opposite, preferring his guitar and the piano, as well as painting to express himself. But I do suspect that Adeline had trained him in hand-to-hand combat. Rose, meanwhile, took after both of her brothers, proving herself with a katana and a violin._

_By the time my youngest turned eight, about three years ago, the United States government decided I had gotten too old for the job, so they forcibly retired me._

_Even though they did not want my services, I was not about to quit being Deathstroke. So, I instead decided to start selling my services to the highest bidder. And I found myself employed by Qurac, Bialya, and other people I had formerly been assigned to attack. Some of these missions soon brought me to the attention of this world's superhero protectors - the Justice League._

_They sent an eight man force to capture me - Superman, Hawkman, Flash, Atom, Green Arrow, Red Tornado, Zatanna, and Ice. Unfortunately for them, I knew they were coming long enough to prepare an ambush against them. First, I figured that Flash would charge at me, so I had some proximity explosives set that trapped him on the ground._

_Then, it was all a matter of handling the rest one on one. I took out Zatanna with a gag that covered her mouth so she couldn't use her spells offensively. Following that, Hawkman was the next one to handled, disarming him and binding his arms. Then, Red Tornado and Ice tried to trap me, but I eluded them and severed Red Tornado's leg, preventing him from using his abilities. Ice, I threw a flare at and forced her to retreat before she melted._

_Green Arrow aimed an arrow at me, but I destroyed the arrow and sawed his arrows in two, preventing him from using them. Atom tried to sneak up on me but I pulled out my laser pointer to spot him as he flew towards my neck and it forced him back to his normal size and unconscious._

_It was just me versus Superman. Sure, the Kryptonian was strong, nearly invincible, and was far more powerful, but I wasn't going to let up. I actually welcome a challenge and I charged at him._

_We went blow for blow. At first, he was holding back against me, I could tell, but as I pushed against him, he increased the energy he put in against me. However, he didn't know that I had a piece of kryptonite on me and I used it against him, weakening him enough so I could make my getaway._

_After I had beaten the League, I soon decided to retire once and for all to devote myself to be a family man. A year later, my home was attacked by men under the command of Carlos the Jackal, who abducted my youngest son Joseph. He threatened to kill him unless he told me who hired me to kill him. I was never hired to kill him, but the Jackal wouldn't believe it._

_I put on my Deathstroke armor again, revealing the truth to Adeline, and attacked the Jackal. I took him out and his men, but he had pierced Joey's throat with a knife. It didn't kill him, but he could no longer talk. Adeline claims that I was too aggressive and my actions cost Joseph his voice. As I think back on it, there was no scenario in which Joseph ended up unharmed._

_Adeline was enraged, and she tried to kill me for endangering our family. She aimed for between my eyes, but I turned before she could kill me, but she hit me right in my right eye. Unfortunately, while my healing abilities covered a lot, it did not cover my organs._

_A few hours later, there was an AC-130 gunship headed towards my house. I quickly told the rest of my family to get out before they got hurt. Unfortunately, it began firing before we could escape. As the house was torn apart, Adeline and Grant were both killed by a cannon round._

_Rose and Joseph managed to get out in time, but from what I saw, Rose was struck in the eye with shrapnel. Like father, like daughter._

_I was still inside by the time the gunship finished blowing the house up. I survived, but before I could leave, I heard a squad of Navy SEALs and Marines heading my way._

_All I did was lay on the ground, slowing my heartbeat enough to feign death, and they pronounced me as dead. But the van they were using to bring me to the morgue had a little...accident and derailed off the highway. I used that opportunity to escape._

_After the explosion, I can only assume that Wintergreen fled to one of my safe houses for protection. I hope Rose and Joseph did the same, but I am not entirely sure. On foot, with their injuries, having to be hidden, with minimal supplies, their odds were bleak._

_With the government having labeled me as having died when my home exploded because of a faulty gas main along with my wife and eldest son, I proceeded to Jump City to make a new name for myself._

_And that is how, my dear, I ultimately came across you._

* * *

Starfire could not believe just what Slade had been through, what had happened to his family. Starfire quickly pulled Slade into a tight embrace and remarked, "I am sorry for what has happened to you."

Slade commented, "Helluva life, isn't it? You want to serve your country for so long, you do serve it, and as a reward, they try to kill you for it."

"They may have taken away your family, but I doubt that my story is much better."

* * *

Elsewhere in Jump City, Robin was continuing to examine the footage he took of the Gordonian ship. He was trying to figure out what exactly was going on with the ship, who they were, and what they were doing there, not to mention who killed them.

Robin already knew they weren't human, and by examining the features of their bodies, they appeared reptilian. However, he couldn't get much more information out of the body due to the massive burns that populated them.

Based on the explosives he found on the ship, Robin was beginning to suspect that the bomber was not the same species as those on the ship. Which helped make things add up a little better as only those unknown bodies were present - all the same species.

And the cause of death wasn't constant - many were killed directly in the explosion, some had been shot repeatedly with .45-caliber bullets, some had been slashed with a sword, and others were blasted right open with some sort of laser.

There had been at least two people on board the ship attacking it, and they had some serious firepower. Robin really needed to figure out just why they were on Earth, and he may gain a lead on who blew up the ship.

Before Robin could continue deliberating, he received a call from police dispatch. He answered, "Hello? Who is this?"

The answer he got from the other end of the phone was, _"Robin, this is Detective Vincent Regan. We have a crime scene downtown in which we'd like your expertise."_

"What exactly was the crime scene like?"

_"A convienence store. Grubs to Go. Looks like there had been a robber, a bit of a shootout, the store front had been blown up, and at least ten bodies."_

Something soon began to form together in Robin's mind. "Were any of the dead reptilian?"

_"All of them. Not a single human was killed, but we did find .45-caliber shells at the scene."_

"I'll be there soon."

* * *

Out in space, the Empress's ship was approaching Earth, now taking care to elude the Justice League Watchtower, which even species of far distant worlds were aware of, in case they wanted to try to invade the planet (in which case they would fail miserably).

The Empress was preparing to hop out of the ship and fly directly to Earth, which would only take a minute or so. As she was readying for her flight to Earth, Lord Damyn came to her with pertinent information.

He said, **"Grand Empress, are you sure about this? If you are killed on Earth, then all hell will break loose."**

She demanded, **"I am sure about this. The cargo must be reclaimed. And I am the one most likely to pass as a human. Give me the location, Lord Damyn."**

**"We have traced the coordinates of the fallen Trogaar's ship to a city the Earthlings call Jump City, California. I am displaying them now on your tablet."**

The Empress pulled out the tablet she kept at her side. The enhanced computer, roughly the size of a wallet, now had the location of the cargo that the Gordonians were supposed to send to the Citadel.

**"I'll be back, Damyn. I promise. A promise that I will keep."**

With that, the Grand Empress flew out of her ship, leaving behind a purple trail as she headed towards Earth.

* * *

I know you may have been expecting Starfire's backstory to be this chapter - I was actually going to do her story this chapter, but I ultimately felt that the song used for this chapter better suited Slade and some of the plot elements that will occur next chapter better fit having Starfire explain her past.

For Slade's backstory, I borrowed a number of elements from the comics, but I also added in a few elements of my own to better fit Slade's persona in this story. As for Rose and Joseph, you'll get to see them in a later chapter, I guarantee.

And for readers out there looking for a challenge, I still have the "Walking Away" challenge on the forum titled _Walking Away_. Look under Teen Titans forums and from there, under Contests. The contest closes June 30, 2014, and I will not accept late entries. And there has been one entry into the contest.


	4. I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing

**Author's Notes**

To shadowyshadow, Red X isn't going to be a part of this story – I'm sure of it. This change of events will result in a change of Robin's motives – of which you'll find out no earlier than the end of the chapter.

To Guest, I'm not sure how you could not have found the "Walking Away Challenge" forum. The directions I provided would clearly lead you there. Go to Cartoons Teen Titans Forums and under Type, select Contests, and the "Walking Away Challenge" is present.

To JP-Rider, I wanted Slade's backstory to be akin to the comics, given how this story hews a bit more closely to the comics than the cartoon.

To sm4567, much like I had said last chapter, I had originally intended to split Starfire and Slade's backstories into two different chapters, but in the end, I wound up flipping the order so Slade had "What Doesn't Kill You" and Starfire now has "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing". The songs I'm using for this story, I want them to tie into the content of the story, and "What Doesn't Kill You" tied into Slade better. I didn't want to kill Rose and Joseph - they are two of the more interesting characters to come from the _Teen Titans_ universe. You'll see them sometime in the story, I'm sure of it.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

"Don't wanna close my eyes  
don't wanna fall asleep  
'cause I'd miss you, baby  
and I don't wanna miss a thing  
'Cause even when I dream of you  
the sweetest dream would never do  
I'd still miss you, baby  
and I don't wanna miss a thing."  
-I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing, Aerosmith

* * *

Previously on _Ascendant:_

_Starfire could not believe just what Slade had been through, what had happened to his family. Starfire quickly pulled Slade into a tight embrace and remarked, "I am sorry for what has happened to you."_

_Slade commented, "Helluva life, isn't it? You want to serve your country for so long, you do serve it, and as a reward, they try to kill you for it."_

_"They may have taken away your family, but I doubt that my story is much better."_

**_ALSO_**

_Something soon began to form together in Robin's mind. "Were any of the dead reptilian?"_

"All of them. Not a single human was killed, but we did find .45-caliber shells at the scene."

_"I'll be there soon."_

* * *

At Slade's base, Starfire and Slade were going over their dark and troubled pasts. Slade had already shared his with Starfire, and now the alien was preparing to explain hers. He was waiting for her to finish her questions about his life, and she had a lot of questions.

Slade inquired, "So, what brought you to Earth Starfire?"

Starfire began to explain, "I came from another world, outside of this solar system."

* * *

_The planet from which I was born is called Tamaran, which lays in the Vega System. It was a beautiful planet, full of life, full of majesty._

_It was, until war came. Tamaran had more resources than most planets in the system, and as such, it became a prime target for the many hostile species abound. Because of the danger, the Guardians of Oa had made an arrangement with them that the Green Lantern Corps would not enter the System in exchange for them not leaving the System._

_The most dangerous of these were the Citadel, which conquered every world that opposed them. Some worlds, however, gladly joined the Citadel, such as the Psions, unethical, lethal scientists, and the Gordonians._

_In order to protect ourselves from them, we mobilized a military to defend Tamaran, sending the youths to Okaara for training. For over one thousand years, we had been successful in fending off the Citadel forces._

_My father was Myand'r, the Grand Emperor of Tamaran, born in the Royal Family Line, which commanded the Tamaranean Army into battle against the Citadel and other invaders. My mother was Luand'r, a farmchild who Myand'r fell for, and eventually married, making her the Grand Empress of Tamaran._

_While being in the Royal Family was often enviable, it was often quite lethal, as they gave up much in order to fight off the Citadel. My father was the last member of his family as Citadel warriors killed his brothers and father._

_They had thought the planet was at peace for once when my mother became pregnant with her first child. After a ten month period of pregnancy, they gave birth to their first child, my sister, who you would call Blackfire._

_That very day, the facade of peace ended as Citadel warriors destroyed Kysarr, a major farming city. Most of the inhabitants escaped, but three thousand of our own lost their lives. All of Tamaran associated her with the attack, and she was shunned. Unfortunately, when she was born, she was discovered to have a rare disease._

_The vast majority of Tamaraneans, well, for most of recorded history, Tamaraneans have been gifted with the ability to convert yellow ultraviolet radiation into energy in order to fly. The disease that my sister was born with crippled her by preventing her from being able to fly. Public sentiment towards her worsened even moreso when the disease became public, and many refused to call her an heir to the throne._

_My parents, overwhelmed by the grief of the populace, decided to conceive another child. Ten months later, I was born and was immediately discovered to have the ability to fly, making me the heir to the throne of Tamaran. Blackfire was not pleased. She knew that I was born because of her disease, and she was only two Earth years old at the time._

_Life for the most part was pleasant in the Royal Palace, but I could always feel that Blackfire was displeased with me, envious of me because of what I had taken from her. And of that, her aggression began to grow. The first incident was back when I was roughly three. I had a pet, which could be described on Earth as a red donkey with hazel eyes and the tail of a purple monkey. I named him Pliphy'r, which would be the equivalent of Sporty._

_A few months after I had gotten him, Pliphy'r was killed by what seemed to be a knife. I did not realize it at the time, but it was Blackfire who had stabbed him repeatedly._

_No matter what happened, life never seemed fair for either of us. Blackfire, because she lost out on the throne and the fact that the people hated her. And myself, because Blackfire was not a kind child._

_We were tutored at the Royal Palace for the first years of our lives, until I was the age of twelve, when we were sent to the Warriors of Okaara for warrior training. It was here where I realized just the magnitude of how angry Blackfire was, just how far she would go to acquire the throne._

_FOCUS_

_We were currently training on the moon of Okaara, as the planet itself was inhospitable to life as a result of its rocky, jagged surface. Blackfire and I were two of the two hundred and thirty seven Tamaraneans sent there for training that session. However, nobody knew our true identities as Blackfire was registered under the name Pligh'r, or Dustfire and I was registered under Wyjau'r, or Lightfire._

_It was most likely fortunate for us as the Warriors of Okaara would refuse to train royalty. We had been training for several months, nearing our graduation as official Tamaranean warriors._

_We were currently in another lesson from the Warriors. The head warrior said, **"You must be able to remove all doubt, all insecurity, and all weakness from your bodies during a fight. If you cannot, then you will be plagued with guilt, with ineptitude, with failure. Now, it is time for sparring practice. No flight, no strength, only staff. Pair up and begin."**_

_More frequently than not, we were trained how to fight without using our powers. This helped Blackfire hide her disease from the rest of them, and by extension, her identity._

_During the sparring practice, Blackfire paired up with Klurky'k, or Thanfall, who happened to be one of the strongest members of the class, roughly eight Earth inches taller than myself or Blackfire, and was considerably more bulky._

_Myself, on the other hand, was paired up with Baylae, or Rushdale, who was much more closer to my size and stature. We got our staffs, and we began our fight. I had stared at Blackfire before our fight was to begin, thinking that she was going to get herself killed by fighting Thanfall, who was considerably bigger than her. As I look back, I had failed to notice a smirk on her face as she readied herself for combat._

_The head Okaaran declared, **"Begin."**_

_I was focused so much on my own fight, I did not watch to see how Blackfire was faring against Thanfall. Rushdale began by lunging her staff as a spear. I ducked and countered by pushing her staff away from myself and I began to strike back as we swung our staffs against each other._

_In these fights, it was a fight to knock your opponent to the ground and plant your staff into their throat, making them yield and surrender. As I fought Rushdale, I looked at her, trying to disarm her. She proved herself more than capable with the staff, perhaps more capable than myself. It seemed as if I would need to use my powers to defeat her, but they taught us, or tried to teach us, honor and respect._

_I would not violate their teachings and go for an underhanded tactic. I pressed my staff against hers and tried to force it out of her hands, which would make the fight easier. As we fought, I noticed how she fought - rapid, striking, as she tried to pull the same technique on me._

_Our staffs were locked against each other, trying to knock it out of the other's hand. I examined her moves, and I had an idea forming in my mind - they said no powers, they said nothing about utilizing martial arts. After all, this sparring practice was little more than martial arts._

_So, unexpectedly to her, I dropped my staff and quickly grabbed hold of hers. We fought hard over the staff, who would get hold of it, when finally, I delivered a kick to her breasts and forced her to release grip on her staff, enabling me to grab it and force her to yield by sending her to the ground._

_Just after the fight finished, the head warrior congratulated me with, **"Congratulations Lightfire. You have demonstrated flexible usage of your abilities, and gained an advantage without violating the rules. I commend you."**_

_While he was applauding me, I soon noticed Blackfire was standing over her much larger opponent, having apparently beaten him into submission. She had chosen Thanfall solely so she could beat up a bigger student. As she stared at me getting the applause from the Warriors of Okaara, she became angry, furious that I was getting more attention than she was._

_She picked up her staff and soon began to head towards me as the head warrior was departing, his back turned towards my sister. When he was far enough out of range, Blackfire struck right towards the back of my neck, which would have most likely been a fatal wound._

_Fortunately, I managed to hear her charge and turned around, grabbing the staff and pushing it away from me. She responded by leaping over my head and kicking me onto the ground. I eluded her next few attacks before I began to launch my own in defense._

_I punched her in the head only for her to quickly recover and then grab my arm, throwing me into a rack of staffs. The impact hurt, as many of the staffs, which had been broken by my impact, scratched me, causing cuts and bruises on my back._

_However, I could not stay down and I went back at her, soaring right at her, utilizing my flight to zoom right up to her and then my super-strength to tackle her onto the ground._

_She would not stay down for long as she used her own super-strength to force me off of her and then she pounced on me, soon tightening her grip around my throat, trying to choke me. It was an agonizing fight between the two of us as she squeezed. I tried to make her let go by punching her in the head, but she deflected it and continued to strangle me._

_As the life was slowly being removed out of me, I began losing hold of my confidence and my joy, depowering me as fear started to take hold, weakening me even further as we have no power accessible from fear._

_However, another emotion was starting to develop inside of me, and this one had a power attached, a power known only to a few Tamaraneans, the Tamaranean royalty, an ability only passed down genetically, but would be hindered in those with a genetic ailment._

_Righteous fury surged right through me and I blasted Blackfire off of me with my starbolts. We were surprised at this, not just myself and Blackfire, but all of those present on the moon of Okaara. Our parents had not told us about this power, expecting it to manifest when we became older. But it manifested a few years early in me, and did not manifest itself in Blackfire._

_With Blackfire off of me, my confidence and joy returned to me, and I was ready to further defend myself against her. However, before we could, the Warriors of Okaara intervened, as they now knew who we really were, or at least became highly suspicious._

_They knew I could fly, and that we were sisters, so the head Okaaran declared, **"Dustfire, fly."**_

_Blackfire tried to fly as hard as she could, but no matter what, she was grounded. She could not fly, and their suspicions were confirmed. They now knew who we were._

**_"That is it, your identities were falsified, Dustfire, Lightfire. You are in truth Princesses Blackfire and Starfire. Starfire, return to formation along with the others."_**

_I complied as he said, walking back to the line where the other students were awaiting further instructions, keeping my hands at my side, head raised up, and legs pointed outward. I was anxious as the Okaaran began to condone my sister for what she had done._

**_"Blackfire, for assaulting and almost killing a fellow student, as well as violating training rules, in accordance with the laws handed to us by your parents, the Tamaranean Grand Emperor and Empress, you are hereby banished from Okaara and Tamaran, never to return under penalty of death."_**

_My sister had been banished from her home, and as I watched her as she was escorted to her craft, which had been supplied only for a few nights, forever rendering her a nomad, I tried to assure her, give her a goodbye, but she stared back at me coldly, as if she was blaming me for her misfortune. And in some ways, she was right._

_As her ship took off, I thought that I would never see my sister again. Or so I thought._

_FOCUS OUT_

_When I returned from Okaara, I found that my mother had become pregnant with her third child, partially out of grief following the banishment of her oldest daughter._

_With Blackfire gone, my father went to great lengths in order to groom me in order to become the Grand Empress of Tamaran eventually upon their deaths, whether it be from age or combat._

_I was desperately hoping that they would die from the former and not the latter. Unfortunately, not all wishes can come true._

_Seven months after I returned, my mother gave birth to her first son, and my younger brother, Ryand'r, or Wildfire. Immediately, my father began to groom him from birth to become the Grand Emperor, but if he could not live up to the high standards, then I would be the successor to my parents._

_Shortly after I turned fifteen, two years after I had returned from warrior training on Okaara, the Citadel struck back. Everyone actively trained as a warrior and those in training were immediately dispatched to hold back the Citadel before they could breach the planet._

_Our first attack traditionally worked as it forced them to repulse or risk heavy casualties. They could not afford to launch massive attacks for this reason. However, they had the leg up on us this time, as our radar detector, which would tell us which direction the Citadel were attacking, was deceived._

_The bulk of our force was concentrated against what we unfortunately discovered too late was a fleet of explosive decoys, which killed many of the Tamaraneans. With that distraction, the Citadel breached the planet._

_With the defenses of Tamaran compromised, my father placed Wildfire in a rocket designed to take him to a refuge colony out of Citadel reach. However, by the time the rocket escaped the planet atmosphere, a guided missile hit the rocket and caused it to sputter and incinerate. Wildfire was killed once the rocket had become ash, a cruel way to torture and murder a child._

_Our forces were quickly cut down by the Citadel as they soon landed on the planet, forcing us into our final stand. As I fought alongside my fellow Tamaraneans, I wondered just how much more competent the Citadel had become, how they got through our first levels of defense, how they managed to kill Wildfire._

_My question would soon be answered, but I did not want to know the answer. We were quickly forced into the Royal Palace, hoping to hold out as long as we could and win by preventing them from getting inside._

_After several hours fighting them off, Blackfire arrived on the ship she had been exiled to. I shouted, **"Blackfire, why have you returned?"** to her once I saw she had come._

_Blackfire smirked as she responded, **"Revenge"**. In one second, she took off and flew into the air, firing purple starbolts at the Royal Palace, killing several of our own and beginning to cause the palace to fall._

_As she arrived inside the Royal Palace, I asked, **"How? How can you fly and use starbolts?"**_

_She responded, **"Psion experimentation. Cured the disease I was born with. I have no inhibitions on my powers now."** Now I knew, Blackfire had sold out the planet to the Citadel._

_Immediately after, she blasted me with one of her starbolts, which I could instantly tell was stronger than my own. With me out of the way, temporarily at least, Blackfire destroyed the barricades blocking the Citadel from entering the Palace, and they swarmed the Palace._

_Within moments, the Citadel took control of the Royal Palace, killing all of the fighters present, including my mother, leaving me and my father alive. With the Palace taken, Tamaran had fallen to the Citadel. As part of the surrender agreement, Blackfire was named the Grand Empress of Tamaran while I was to be sent into slavery. When Myand'r tried to resist, Blackfire blasted him in the throat with a starbolt, killing him and officially making herself Grand Empress._

_Blackfire wanted me to have the most humiliating punishment, so she dressed me in a bulkier version of her outfit and had me first shipped off to Korgaul, an ice planet on the other side of the Sol, where I would be picked up by Lord Trogaar and brought back to the Citadel homeworld for X'Hal knows what._

_Fortunately, I managed to escape and come here._

* * *

Slade had finished hearing Starfire's story and soon began to ask, "Who is X'Hal?"

"The Tamaranean equivalent of what you would call God."

"Dear God, Starfire. I had no idea you went through that. You were right saying that your story was complicated. Your own sister sold you out to your enemies."

"Yes, and now they are coming for me."

Slade soon placed a hand on Starfire's face, slowly moving it around to calm her down. "They aren't going to get you. I will make sure of that, even if it's the last thing I do."

* * *

Meanwhile, over at the Grubs to Go where the Slade and Starfire had killed the Gordonians, Robin was arriving, hoping to get some insight as to who the aliens were, and who killed them.

Upon making it to the crime scene, Robin hopped off of the R-Cycle and headed over to the head investigator, Detective Vincent Regan, a fifty-something year old cop with slowly receding brown hair and a fairly athletic form, well in shape for a man of his age. Regan greeted, "Robin. Nice seeing you. We were hesitating to call you."

Robin commented, "Yeah, I know what you were thinking. Why would you call in a vigilante when you already have a police force capable enough to solve crimes?"

"It wasn't until we saw the bodies that we felt you could be of assistance, considering your experience as Batman's protege and your encounters with less-than-human beings."

"Yeah, there were some very strange days. Batman had a lot of records of his encounters with non-human beings while with the Justice League. I'm hoping that one of those encounters will detail us as to who they are."

Robin and Regan arrived at the crime scene, where the ten Gordonians were laid out, not being moved from their original resting places. Robin walked up to the store, he analyzed the blast that had blown up the storefront. "Definitely wasn't a standard explosive."

Looking for proof to support Regan's statement, Robin noticed the exact nature of the blast and the burn pattern. "They weren't in the store when the front was destroyed. I'm willing to bet that they destroyed the store to find whoever was inside, and that whoever they were looking for killed them."

"You think it was self-defense?"

"I would if there wasn't a ship full of similar-looking deceased over at Wain Island. That's part of the reason I came. To get a better idea of just who killed them, or who these guys are."

Continuing into the store, Robin began examining one of the Gordonians, looking at one of the Gordonians that was blasted with a starbolt. "Damage pattern indicates it was a powerful weapon. Shotgun wouldn't have produced such a tight spread, not to mention no trace of buckshot. Explosives would have blown the body up wholesale. I'm willing to bet that whoever killed them wasn't human."

"Or at least one of them was human. We also found shells that killed two of them."

Robin walked over to one of the dead Gordonians that had bullets in them, specifically one that had two bullets in his head. "Shooter must be extremely accurate. First shot connected with back of the spine, second the base of the brain. Must have been lucky, though, as how could he know their anatomy?"

He then began comparing the damage done on the first Gordonian he saw to that of several Gordonians he saw dead on the ship. After a few seconds, it immediately came up as a direct match. Regan inquired, "The wounds match the ones you saw on the ship?"

"Dead match. I've also begun checking the wounds against themselves. At least one of the blasted victims was not killed with the same weapon as this one. The blast impact was smaller, but it couldn't have been made by an ordinary weapon."

"Who do you think could have helped out our alien?"

"Thing is, we can't start figuring that out until we know who these guys are."

Suddenly, a voice from above called out, "I believe I can help with that."

Robin and Regan stared at the alien coming down towards them. She was wearing a set of armor similar to that Starfire had worn upon first arriving, but it was less bulky. She had long black hair and an unusual set of eyebrows over her deep purple eyes.

Regan inquired, "Do you know who these guys are?"

She responded, "Yes. They're Gordonians. Bounty hunters. Tracking down a dangerous prisoner that has now escaped into your world."

Robin demanded, "Okay then, who are you?"

She answered, "On my homeworld, I would be known as _Komand'r_, but you can call me Blackfire."

* * *

Now, Robin is in with Blackfire, who can now set forth her agenda to capture Starfire. In Starfire's flashback, I chose to call Blackfire simply by her translated name rather than her original name to try to give some sort of "revelation" at the end that Blackfire is the Empress, and is now on Earth looking for Starfire.

Remember, the "Walking Away" challenge closes on Monday June 30, 2014 at 11:59 PM. To access the information on this site, go to Cartoons, then Teen Titans, then the forums, then select under type contests. It should be one of the only forums there.


	5. All of Me

**Author's Notes**

To ForeverMe65, I thought my instructions could be followed on a mobile device – but I guess that not all devices are created equal when it comes to looking at the site. It'd be easier to send you a response if you signed in. Though, I doubt this would be useful now given the delay between chapters.

To sm4567, I needed to give Blackfire a reason for hating Starfire, and I didn't want to fully embrace the cartoon or the comic - you'll see more elements of Starfire's comic personality this chapter (primarily, as TVTropes calls it, her Fanservice). The two sisters will have more confrontations throughout the story, and things aren't going to be any less lethal. There will be romance between Robin and Blackfire, as there will be between Starfire and Slade, and Starfire will be facing a darker path as she embraces her warrior side as Robin will face Blackfire's so-called "gray line morality" (**spoiler**: Blackfire is a _really_ good actor). The Titans as you know will not exist, and as for Slade's tenderness to Starfire, Slade has standards and perhaps he needs her to fill the hole that the deaths of his wife and son (as well as the unknown fate of his youngest son and daughter) left.

To GACLuvr666, thanks for the review.

**I'm sorry about the lengthy delay, but I've been busy with work and my other story, not to mention reception has been slow for this story yet.**

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

_"'Cause all of me_  
_Loves all of you_  
_Love your curves and all your edges_  
_All your perfect imperfections_  
_Give your all to me_  
_I'll give my all to you_  
_You're my end and my beginning_  
_Even when I lose I'm winning_  
_'Cause I give you all of me_  
_And you give me all of you, oh."  
_-All of Me, John Legend

* * *

Previously on _Ascendant:_

_"Dear God, Starfire. I had no idea you went through that. You were right saying that your story was complicated. Your own sister sold you out to your enemies."_

_"Yes, and now they are coming for me."_

_Slade soon placed a hand on Starfire's face, slowly moving it around to calm her down. "They aren't going to get you. I will make sure of that, even if it's the last thing I do."_

_**ALSO**_

_"Thing is, we can't start figuring that out until we know who these guys are."_

_Suddenly, a voice from above called out, "I believe I can help with that."_

_Robin and Regan stared at the alien coming down towards them. She was wearing a set of armor similar to that Starfire had worn upon first arriving, but it was less bulky. She had long black hair and an unusual set of eyebrows over her deep purple eyes._

_Regan inquired, "Do you know who these guys are?"_

_She responded, "Yes. They're Gordonians. Bounty hunters. Tracking down a dangerous prisoner that has now escaped into your world."_

_Robin demanded, "Okay then, who are you?"_

_She answered, "On my homeworld, I would be known as Komand'r, but you can call me Blackfire."_

* * *

Robin commented, "So, Blackfire, huh? You don't look like one of those...Gordonians."

Blackfire chuckled, "Of course not, Robin."

"How do you know my name?"

"I did my share of research before coming down to Earth. I most certainly figured I'd be running into you."

"Well then Blackfire, will you please explain to Detective Regan and I as to what you are doing on Earth?"

"I'm here to pick up where the Gordonians had failed, and recover the escaped prisoner before bringing her back to stand trial in the Vega System."

"And who is this prisoner you're looking for?"

Blackfire pulled out her tablet to reveal the prisoner. "Her name from my homeworld would be _Koriand'r_. In your language, it would be Starfire."

"Are you two related?"

"Yes, Robin. She is my sister."

"What crimes is she wanted for?"

"Treason against the Citadel Empire, escaping from Gordonian custody, and now, murder. She must be brought back to Tamaran to be tried and prosecuted."

Robin let what Blackfire claimed permeate his mind. There was a treacherous, murderous alien on Earth, likely in Jump City, and she had an equally deadly human ally on her side. Unfortunately, he did not realize that Blackfire was the one that he should be pursuing, not Starfire. On his current mindset, only one conclusion was inevitable.

"Okay then, I will help you. This Starfire must be tried for all of her crimes. Now, we have to find her. How long do we have exactly?"

"Technically, we have until the end of time, but I'd rather have her returned to custody sooner than later. Do you have any leads as to where she is?"

"I know where she _was_. There was a ship on the other side of town near Wain Island, a spaceship filled with Gordonians. It is currently heading towards the bottom of the Pacific Ocean after it exploded. There were at least two people attacking the ship. I think you might be able to help identify if she was actually on the ship, and if we have any sort of lead from there."

"Of course, Robin. I'll meet you there in a few minutes."

Robin headed over to his R-Cycle and mounted it, putting his helmet on as he proceeded to head back towards Wain Island, where Blackfire was going to join him.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Slade's base, the former mercenary was giving Starfire some space as she thought about her options, and he thought about what he was getting himself into. She obviously needed a place to stay and someone to protect her, but was he ready to be a father again? Was he ready for the public eye again? If he reveals himself, then the government would continue their hunt for him as they would figure that he was still alive.

In addition, if she was caught, then they would eventually tie her to him. And then both of them would lose. They would have to go underground, but from what he had seen in Starfire, she would not go underground. She was a social butterfly, one who embraced her emotions, willing to expose herself.

Himself, on the other hand, wore a mask, not just the Deathstroke mask, but an emotional mask as well, hiding his turmoil, which so often threatened to surface itself.

If she was to be part of the populace, she'd stick out like a sore thumb, being so naive to Earth ways. He'd have a lot to have her learn in order to blend in and not be caught. If she was, there would be a high probability that she'd be returned to the Gordonians and the Citadel, and then the government would be on him. So, he really did not want either of them to be caught.

He basically had a choice right in front of him - stay underground, probably resulting in a lot of antsy behavior on behalf of Starfire, who probably couldn't stay still too much as she already had demonstrated an element or two of airheadedness; or they could go surface and risk both of them being caught while trying to live "normal" lives.

With such a tough decision, he decided to go to Starfire and see what she ultimately thought, and that might help the two of them decide the course to take. Returning to Starfire, he was fairly stunned as to what he saw.

Starfire had already stripped off her armor and underclothing, as well as her purple undergarnments, leaving her completely naked, simply laying on the sheets of the bed. Immediately, he could not resist staring at her large breasts, which were easily a double D cup size, her sizable butt, and her private region, which had a groomed triangle of orange pubic hair. Slade immediately cried out, "Starfire, why are you nude?"

She explained, "On Tamaran, clothing is not valued highly. We traditionally do not have the pajamas in bed."

Slade said, "Well, the first rule for staying here is you wear clothes in bed."

"Do all humans wear clothing in bed?"

"Most of them, it's a common courtesy on Earth."

As a result, Starfire quickly put back on her purple undergarnments and then sat herself at the head of the bed as Slade took a seat at the foot of the same bed.

"Why did you come here?"

"I've been trying to decide what to do now. By now, the police have found the bodies at the store and pretty soon will be investigating the ship."

"And what will happen after that?"

"They'll begin looking for us. And I think we both know what will happen if we are caught. That brings me to the decision that we're faced with - staying out of their sight and out of the public, or living a normal life and risking them finding us."

"We cannot let their attempts to arrest us to stop us from living our lives."

"Maybe, but they still think I am dead, and I don't want to endanger my family, and also if they found out I was alive, they would begin to link the two crime scenes to me, and from there, you."

"So, how would we avoid detection?"

"I build cover identities for the both of us, use some disguises, and they don't suspect who we really are. Given your age, I think it'd be wise to place you in high school."

"What could I learn at school? Everything I learned was from the Tamaranean tutors. What would I need to learn?"

"I can get a high school placement exam to see just what you need to learn. While I think you'd excel at physical education, as well as science and mathematics, you probably would need English and social studies classes."

"What exactly is high school like on Earth?"

"It lasts a couple of hours a day, from early in the morning to the start of the afternoon. You go from class to class, with several different teachers teaching each subject."

* * *

Robin arrived back at Wain Island where Blackfire had already arrived, waiting for Robin. She commented, "What took you so long?"

Robin countered, "How did you get here so fast?"

"Have you ever flown before?"

"Have you ever walked before?"

"More often than you think."

"Touche. Come on, let's get the ship to further investigate these Gordonians."

Robin pulled out a small tablet from his utility belt, locating the tracking device he had planted on the ship before it sank. Blackfire inquired, "So, isn't there supposed to be a ship?"

"There is. It's roughly fifty feet under the water, one hundred thirty feet in front of the island. I placed a tracking device on the ship before I left as I couldn't stay on or else I'd drown. Would you drown?"

"At more extreme depths, but at what you describe, I should be able to retrieve the ship."

"Are you sure, Blackfire?"

"Super strength. Where do you want me to deposit the ship?"

"From what I saw about the overall size of the ship, there's a nearby yard two hundred yards away. Bring it there so we can investigate."

Blackfire then proceeded to go underwater to pick up the ship as Robin once again mounted the R-Cycle, heading towards the field where he and Blackfire would then investigate the Gordonian ship in depth.

The alien quickly got under the sea and grabbed the ship, ascending as she held the ship in her hands, heading over to the field so she could "help Robin investigate", though her real intentions would be to make sure that there was enough evidence so she could go after Starfire and then bring her back to the Citadel for imprisonment, leaving her without opposition to firmly hold the throne of Tamaran.

Calmly depositing the ship in the field, she soon joined Robin at the base so they could go inside. Robin pointed out, "There's some sort of entrance at the bottom of the ship. It's how I got in the first time."

"So are we going in?"

With that, Robin took Blackfire's hand and the two ascended inside the ship, with Blackfire flying them in. Robin pulled out a flashlight while Blackfire lit up a purple starbolt. Upon seeing it, Robin asked, "What is that?"

"It's called a starbolt. It's an energy blast. You do not want to be the target of one of these babies."

"Noted. Let's move. Now that the ship is no longer in water, the water should subside and we can better examine what happened here."

Blackfire took a few steps before she noticed the ship's floor was denting as she stepped. "The ship isn't structurally sound, is it?"

"There was a massive explosion on board. Starfire and her human collaborator must have done it to cover their tracks. Add in the water, and we've got a recipe for disaster. I'm willing to bet that it was before. Here. Look at the bodies."

Robin pointed Blackfire to some of the charred corpses present in the ship. She immediately began looking at them to see what happened. "At least one of them was killed by a starbolt."

"You're not the only one?"

"No. Starfire is the other one who has them. The blast pattern definitely suggests that it was the cause of death. It looks like a sword killed a few of them as well."

Robin walked over to the bodies and saw another one that had been blasted, asking, "Was this a starbolt as well?"

Upon looking at it, Blackfire explained, "No. It's not big enough. It was a more concentrated blast, probably from some sort of phaser gun." She was partially right on that as the fatal blast came from Slade's staff.

"Not a lot of phasers on Earth. Probably even fewer around here. That should help us narrow down the human conspirator."

"And look at some of these. Pierced with a couple of small holes."

Robin looked at where Blackfire was pointing and saw a Gordonian with a .45-caliber bullet in his chest. Grabbing a pair of tweezers, Robin extracted the bullet from his chest and analyzed, "Forty-five caliber bullet. I'd need to check the striations on the bullet to see if they were fired from the same gun."

"You think there was more than one human who joined her?"

"No. I think we're looking for somebody with a lot of firepower. Sword, phaser, at least one handgun. Let's keep moving."

Robin and Blackfire proceeded to move from the bottom of the ship towards the bridge, finding many of the computers had been damaged and a lot of dead bodies.

"I doubt we'll be able to get any information off of the computers."

"Yeah, too much water damage, plus the explosion that took out the ship. There's not much here that could help us locate them. Maybe we'll get lucky and one of them dropped a weapon during the scuffle."

Blackfire looked around the bridge before announcing, "I think I found one of the weapons." She was quickly joined by Robin, who picked up the empty LDA, which was charred but still intact. "Looks like this was the gun that our intruder used."

Moving away from Robin, Blackfire headed over to the other side of the bridge in hopes of finding more evidence that would identify the attacker, and who helped her sister escape custody and kill the Gordonians.

After several moments of looking, Robin finally found a second handgun, another LDA that had been dropped when it ran out of bullets. He placed the two guns in an evidence bag to preserve them before bringing them down to the station for analysis.

With that, he noted, "I think we found the only weapons we could find. Now, we have to check the engine room to see if we can scrounge up any remains of the bomb."

Blackfire asked, "You're sure there was a bomb?"

"I detected traces of it when I first came aboard. They used it to blow up the engine and from there, take out the ship. Anyone who wasn't dead already perished in the blast."

Robin began heading towards the engine room of the ship while Blackfire followed, trying to see just what wreckage her sister and her human collaborator, the one who messed up her plans to get rid of Starfire by handing her off to the Citadel, though part of the problem was the Gordonians who failed to keep her restrained and then were unable to clean up their mess, resulting in their deaths.

After several minutes, they arrived in the engine room where they planted the bomb. Robin requested, "Any ideas as to what these parts are? Know anything about this...Gordonian engine?"

"From what I'm sure about, they most likely slowed down the engine. There's no way that they could have gotten their bomb inside in time and gotten out without slowing it down. If they didn't slow it down, the bomb would most likely detonate early."

"Could you show me the lever?"

"Yes, but I doubt it'd show you the full picture as the engine is busted as a result of the explosion."

"Do you think you can get another of the Gordonian ships here for comparison?"

"I highly doubt that. Most of the remaining Gordonians are far away, where they could never reach us in time. Anyway, it is ultimately irrelevant to our case."

"Our? Since when are you a detective?"

"I have some of the training for that. It's not like you're doing this alone. You can't do this alone, not that I'm not allowing it, but you won't catch Starfire if you're alone. You need me, Robin."

"Are you sure about that?"

"I am positive, Robin."

"Okay then, do you have a place to stay?"

"Well, I actually hadn't thought about that." Actually, Blackfire had thought about that in spades - she knew where she _wanted_ to stay - where she _needed_ to stay, but the question was if it'd all work out for her.

Robin simply stared at Blackfire as she pretended to think about where she could be staying. She then rattled out, "I could always stay in what you humans call an alleyway."

He responded, "You'd get awfully cold, and they aren't exactly the place for someone like you."

"Think I'd get killed by the thugs that reside there? You're wrong."

"Okay then, you'd probably end up killing the thugs, which is something I'd rather not have to deal with. An alley is out of the question."

"I could acquire an apartment or as you say, _'check into a hotel'_."

"Do you have the money for it? It does get awfully expensive, and your outfit doesn't look as if you have pockets. And if you want to stay on this investigation, you aren't breaking in or stealing."

"Well then, I guess the only option I have is to stay with _you_. Is that a problem?" Blackfire's tease soon caught Robin off-guard as he began thinking. Could he take a complete stranger to his hideout? Could she be trusted? What would Batman think? Okay, strike that last question out. The Boy Wonder wasn't on speaking terms with his mentor.

Ultimately, after weighing all the pros and cons, or rather the cons of each situation, it was the lesser of two evils to have Blackfire stay with him.

"Alright then, Blackfire, you can stay at my place. Once we finish with the scene, we'll head back and I'll show you around."

While the two continued to search for evidence in the ship, neither of them paid any heed to the blue-cloaked individual watching them from afar. Her intuitions were correct, and trouble was now afoot. The only queston was just how bad things would get, and if they would get better. She did not know the answer, but she dreaded the question.

And in a flash, before Robin or Blackfire could notice said individual, she vanished as soon as she arrived.

* * *

Back at Slade's base, the masked mercenary was working on creating documents for himself and Starfire so she could attend school and not get exposed as an alien, and so the government wouldn't realize that he was still alive. If they knew that he was alive, then any chance of Rose and Joseph of being safe was thrown out the window.

He needed to make aliases that would be easy enough for her to remember and withstand scrutiny, which meant he'd have to create a massive load of documents proving their existence, or rather the fact they weren't an alien prisoner and a master assassin.

Right now, he had basic ideas about Starfire's cover - she'd be an orphan from war-torn Serbia, the daughter of a local diplomat and an American expatriate who were both killed in the civil war, but was soon left a runaway on the streets as fighting continued. He would be the man who adopted her, a building contractor who ran a lucrative business who lost his eye in a construction accident years earlier. It wasn't exactly true, but as far as anyone else would be concerned, it would look true which was good enough for him. The only way to prove the story untrue would be performing an autopsy, and that'd require him being dead. Not much use of an alias if he's dead. But if he's dead, then his alias would fall apart, which means Starfire's alias would fall apart.

He could not let Starfire's true identity be exposed at all costs. Knowing what would happen if she was captured, he had to make sure that did not happen.

As he worked on making the false identifications, Starfire soon popped her head into the room, now dressed with her purple undergarments. Sensing the alien's arrival, Slade asked, "Is there anything you need Starfire?"

Sheepishly, she replied, "I had been thinking about our possibilities now that we have to stay under the ground."

"And?"

"I know that I cannot stay underground, as it would be a violation of Tamaranean society. And I sense that you do not want to stay underground as well."

"I think you've read my mind Starfire."

"I do not have the telepathy."

"It's an expression, Starfire." Slade rotated his chair towards Starfire. "You and I both know we cannot let the fact that there are a lot of people after both of our heads to affect our actions, but we cannot outright expose who we are. We have to be smarter than that, and I am already working on creating aliases for the both of us."

"How much longer until you are finished? I was just wondering."

"It will take some more time, creating aliases that could not be traced back to either of us, and deep enough so they'd withstand any scrutiny, especially on my own. I may be good, but hacking isn't my forte. Hopefully, once I am finished, we can enroll you in high school to further solidify your cover. Now, I suggest you get to bed. It's getting very late and I doubt you have had much time to rest since you escaped from the Gordonians and this evening's events were likely strenuous."

"Indeed it has. A sleep is probably what I need most now."

With that, Starfire left the computer room and Slade quickly returned to working on their fake ID's.

* * *

**Okay, so now that I have a job, and with school quickly approaching, I will have a lot less time to update, but I will continue on this story. This chapter, I was just going into Robin and Blackfire's first meeting and them investigating the Gordonian ship. Starfire and Slade will cross paths with Robin and Blackfire eventually, just not yet.**

**And as for the little Teen Titans reboot, _Teen Titans Go!_, I had first thought it was a decent show, with some bad episodes. A year later, it's pretty much official - it is God awful with unheroic protagonists that are basically Flanderized (another TV Tropes term) to their base personalities, mean-spirited humor, and horrid plotting, not to mention really weak villains (Tara is the only decent one of the bunch - everyone else falls short by stupefying margins). If you are considering watching the show, anything beyond the first few episodes should be all you watch.**


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